The pressures of remaking a classic game

How do you recreate a masterpiece? It’s a question that Ivan Casaril and Fabrizio Dini have spent a lot of time thinking about.

Ivan is the lead game designer and Fabrizio the art director on the recently released remake of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

First released in 2013, the adventure-puzzle game was a sleeper hit thanks to its novel control scheme and heart-breaking narrative.

As the name suggests, the player controls two siblings on a quest through a fantastical land on a quest to save a family member.

Now Italian game studio Avantgarden has recreated the experience for current-gen consoles and PC.

No spoilers here, but anyone who played the original will agree with Ivan that Brothers “is something you can remember even after many years”.

He says the game’s appeal lies in its “fairytale” opening – “everything is colourful, cheerful” – but “the more you play through the levels, the darker the themes and the environment become, until the you reach a very emotional point”, he says.

Ivan played the original – an Xbox Live Arcade title – and says it “had a deep emotional impact” on him.

Fabrizio says the 2013 version – which won a Bafta Games Award – is widely remembered as a “masterpiece” where the narrative was conveyed through the gameplay.

One of the most striking elements of the original was the use of a single joypad to move the two main characters – one control stick for the older brother, and the other for the younger boy.

Each had strengths and weaknesses, and it was up to players to figure out which boy to manoeuvre through obstacles.

For the remake, the control mechanic remains intact.

The Avantgarden team has added a secondary co-operative mode for two players using separate gamepads, though Ivan admits “the game is meant to be played solo”.

A bigger, more obvious change is in the game’s graphics – they’ve been given a complete overhaul, adding more detail and lighting to scenes and giving expression to the characters.

The team’s also recorded a brand-new soundtrack performed by a live orchestra.

Ivan says one of the main goals was giving the game an “up-to-date presentation” and refining the original which, he points out, did have “some technical limitations”.

“Eleven years later, you can tweak a bit on that point, you can boost graphics, you can add environments, you can improve the lighting, improve everything in that aspect,” he says.

“And that is not just adding things blindly, it’s also to add meaning to the scene, you have to work on the original one to see what the intent was,” he says.

Fabrizio says the team gave “a lot of careful consideration” to any additions and the overall aim was to use modern technology to make “the graphics and play more vivid and immersive without overshadowing the original ideas”.

The Brothers remake is the latest in a line of re-imaginings, reissues and resurrections of older gaming titles.

Already this year we’ve had a remaster of The Last of Us: Part II, the second part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy and a refreshed Alone in the Dark coming later this month, to name a few.

Avantgarden’s parent company, Digital Bros, recently said gamers were being “more selective” about new games and opting to stick with “well-established” titles.

The company announced office closures this week as part of a previously announced restructure, in a tough time for the industry as it looks to avoid risks.

And when the 2024 version of Brothers was revealed at last year’s Games Awards, among the nostalgia and excitement, there were others who questioned whether this was a title that needed to be revisited.

Fabrizio says he understands this point of view, but thinks there is value in the project.

“Sometimes the preserving of a masterpiece is a good chance to do something new and speak to new people that never knew about this game during its original release,” he says.

Fabrizio, who spoke to Newsbeat with Ivan just before the release, admits it was “nerve-wracking” waiting to see what the response would be.

So far, the remake’s had generally favourable reviews, according to Metacritic, even if a handful of critics said they would have liked to see more ambition from the project.

But for Ivan, there’s one person whose response he’s particularly interested to hear.

“I’m waiting to give the game to one friend of mine, the friend that bought me the original game,” he says.

“He just found out last year that I was working on this game, but he was the one that showed me Brothers for the first time. So it will be a great moment. I can’t wait to give him a copy of the game.”

Ivan says he hopes players will feel they’ve done justice to a classic.

“When you were working on something for so many years, you always try to smooth everything out and you want to reach a target… there is never enough,” he says.

“And we hope that people that will play it again or for the first time will love it.”

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